Monday, 30 November 2015

Google Doodle celebrates famous Canadian Author Lucy Maud Montgomery

Today the literary world celebrates one of the greatest writer, poet and author in history 'Lucy Maud Montgomery' (November 30, 1874-April 24, 1942) publicly known as L.M Montgomery, who would have celebrated her 141 birthday today.

Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning in 1908 with Anne of Green Gables. 'Anne of Green Gables' was an immediate success. The central character, Anne, an orphaned girl, made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following.The first novel was followed by a series of sequels with Anne as the central character.

Montgomery went on to publish 20 novels as well as 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays. Most of the novels were set on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and thus locations within the Canadian province became literary landmarks and much visited tourist sites. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1935.

Montgomery's work, diaries and letters have been read and studied by scholars and readers worldwide.

Her Death:

Montgomery died on April 24, 1942. A note was found beside her bed, reading, in part:

"I have lost my mind by spells and I do not dare think what I may do in those spells. May God forgive me and I hope everyone else will forgive me even if they cannot understand. My position is too awful to endure and nobody realizes it. What an end to a life in which I tried always to do my best."

It was reported in 1942 that Montgomery died from coronary thrombosis in Toronto. However, it was revealed by her granddaughter, Kate Macdonald Butler, in September 2008 that Montgomery suffered from depression – possibly as a result of caring for her mentally ill husband for decades – and may have taken her own life via a drug overdose. But, there is another point of view. According to Mary Rubio, who wrote a biography of Montgomery, Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings (2008), the message may have been intended to be a journal entry as part of a journal that can no longer be found, rather than a simple suicide note.

She was buried at the Cavendish Community Cemetery in Cavendish following her wake in the Green Gables farmhouse and funeral in the local Presbyterian church.